Irene Asare
Global HR Director, CarvinClay People Development
Ghana
Irene Asare
Irene is a talented HR Director with more than 20 years’ experience in Head of HR, Business Transformation and Organisational Effectiveness roles for top multinationals, including Tullow Oil, Vodafone, Standard Bank, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Serco. She is an award winner of multiple HR industry accolades, and is MCIPD qualified, with an Executive MBA and Master’s in Human Resources Management.
A true HR generalist, Irene’s formative career was spent in progressively senior HR roles across B2B and B2C sectors in the UK, where she gained strong skills in business partnering, and a depth and breadth of expertise across the full employee lifecycle and HR disciplines.
In 2010, she was headhunted by Vodafone Ghana to lead the integration and organisational restructure of the business following their acquisition of Ghana Telecom, and establish an HR Business Partner model. She was subsequently handpicked to head Business Transformation and led the country’s largest-ever cash and cost programme, before being promoted to head Organisational Effectiveness & Change for a group of countries, including South Africa, Vodafone’s #5 largest market globally.
Irene latterly joined Standard Bank as Regional Head of HR for West Africa, where she set the people strategy for an employee population of 6,000, ensuring a joined-up approach by working closely with country leadership to align HR vision with corporate goals.
She was subsequently headhunted by Tullow Oil as head of HR for Ghana, accountable for 75% of the company’s global revenues and >30% of the employee population. Here, she spearheaded an HR strategy that radically improved employee engagement, operational effectiveness and cost effectiveness. She led large-scale business transformations that stabilised and grew the business at critical junctures, and championed DEI, directing workforce localisation and gender diversity initiatives.
Most recently, Irene established CarvinClay, an HR and People Development consultancy that has rapidly grown into a trusted brand with an impressive African and international client base across sectors, delivering HR transformations, Human Capital Strategy Development, organisational coaching, female leadership development programmes, conference facilitation, mobility and integration work, and mentoring engagements.
Underpinning Irene’s two-decade track record of success is her commitment to building proactive, efficient HR functions that provide high-value partnership to the business. An experienced board and C-level advisor, she thrives when developing and implementing ambitious people strategies and defining compelling employee value propositions that establish organisations as employers of choice, and leading large-scale business transformations that drive growth, performance and profitability.
Irene was named in the List of 100 Most Influential African Women in 2021 by Avance Media.
Photo Credit: Business Day Ghana